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Sunday, July 20, 2008

MMA

A couple weekends ago a friend invited me to a bar to watch the Rampage Jackson, Forrest Griffin mixed martial arts (MMA) fight. I have watched and enjoyed violent fighting events in the past. Another friend had given me tapes of Jackson fighting in Japan where they have their own MMA circuit. The difference between MMA in Japan, and MMA in America, as best as I can tell, is in Japan you can kick people in the head while they are on the ground, and in America you can't. Jackson picked up people in Japan and dropped them on their head. I thought he would win. In the course of the fight I realized I was bored with it, that I didn't much care who the victor was. I saw Jackson land some punches to Griffin's head. Griffin kicked Jackson in the knee and seriously injured him. Griffin got on top of Jackson and rubbed his elbow and forearm into Jackson's head. I started watching the people in the bar and everyone had their attention firmly focused on the 27 plasma screen televisions. I didn't wait around for the decision.

In one of the undercard fights leading up to the main event a man got cut badly and blood ran out of his head forming pools on the fighting canvas. I thought someone would come and mop up all the blood. Apparently though, the promoters have taken this possible problem into account and made the fighting floor out of something absorbent. I wasn't really enjoying this.

The next day I watched Federer and Nadal play for the Wimbledon championship. Nadal won the first two sets 6-4, Federer came back and won the next two 7-6 in tiebreakers. They went to a fifth and deciding set. It wasn't decided until 9-7. It was the best tennis match I had ever seen. Nobody was seriously cut and no blood ran unto the courts at Wimbledon to be absorbed by the grass. The excitement of the players and the fans was palpable. Nobody had their arm hyperextended in an arm bar, nor were they choked unconscious in a jiu-jitsu chokehold. Nobody got powerslammed or suplexed into the canvas threatening to fracture their skull or break their neck. I thought it was highly entertaining.

Considering all this and the way my likes seem to indicate the opposite of popular trends, I predict MMA fighting will soon be more popular than the Super Bowl.